Hello? Is it me you’re looking for? December 8, 2009

By Nate
As I write this, a gentleman by the name of Rob Cavazos is talking in rather rapid German on a public telephone to someone he doesn’t know. As he hangs up, the phone rings almost immediately and he launches into another conversation (again in German) with a stranger. This is the Phone Box Experiment and I am watching the apparently live web-feed of one the most original pieces of online PR this year.

Rob is camping next to a phone box in the middle of the Spanish wilderness with a sign saying call me. The phone has not stopped ringing. He is trying to answer every call and wants to speak to people from 100 different countries; he’s up to 63 as of this moment so he should easily reach his target.

The whole project is set-up as an advert for Skype; however the website is so subtly branded that you might be forgiven for thinking Rob had set this up himself. This lack of overt brand slap and the rather rustic feel to the site is ensuring that the experiment is social media friendly and to be totally honest, the most endearing thing is that Rob seems like a genuinely nice chap who is actually thrilled by all the calls he is receiving.

Take a look at the live feed and I promised you will be mesmerised.

This is a highly original piece of content that should be remembered as a social media success. Any companies looking to engage with consumers via social networks could do worse than to look at what Skype hath wrought. There are already several groups following the experiment on Facebook with parties planned for Rob’s safe return. A quick Twitter search reveals thousands of tweets about the experiment and whilst it isn’t trending at the moment I think it’s a safe bet that it will be soon.

It’s also wildly fantastic – exactly the kind of thing that excites the world’s bloggers – a Google blog search comes back with thousands of hits. So provided that this isn’t hijacked by idiots, like Eyndia’s favourite Skittle Skuffle, this could be a yardstick for great social media work.

I am still trying to get through to Rob at the moment but if you want a go his number is: +34 951 055 675. Remember he’s in Spain so it could be expensive but it should be worth it! If you do manage to get through leave a comment below!